Hydrodeoxygenation of biomass-derived furans into liquid alkanes over a Ru/WO3-ZrO2 catalyst

Abstract

The synthesis of high-quality fuels from biomass-derived platform chemicals is challenging. Herein, Ru/WO3-ZrO2 (Ru/xWZ, where x is the wt% of WO3) catalysts with varying WO3 loadings were synthesized and explored for the hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) of biomass-derived furfural-acetone aldol adducts (FAc) to alkanes. Notably, WO3 loadings had a marked effect on the catalytic HDO of FAc to alkanes. Complete FAc conversion with a 95% yield of alkanes (octane : heptane - 82 : 18) was achieved over the Ru/5WZ catalyst under optimized reaction conditions (150 °C, 2 MPa H2, and 3 h). Control experiments and NH3-TPD and HR-TEM results inferred that the optimum loading of WO3 is crucial for tuning the acidic sites and the exposure of the Ru surface sites in the Ru/xWZ catalysts to achieve high catalytic activity for the HDO of FAc to alkanes. © 2024 The Royal Society of Chemistry.